The ONLY Way Out by Maj Navdeep Singh

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The only practical way-out for parity in pay and career progression :

There is lack of a meeting point between the civil and the defence services as far as pay (and career) progression is concerned. A practical aspect of the problem also emanates from the steep pyramid-like structure of the forces which cannot be exactly configured with the civil set-up or so they think. Another feature of the problem is the now (though wrongly) ensconced Joint Secretary to Govt of India = Major General equivalence at the executive level in the Ministry of Defence. Also with AV committee report implementation, the time frame required for promotions in the defence services have undergone a humongous change in the backdrop of civil promotions. For example, the Senior Time Scale (STS, PB-3 / GP 6600) equivalence with a Captain is no longer acceptable to the civilian set up because while a Capt is promoted to the rank in 2 years of service, an STS officer reaches that grade in four years.

So what is the way out ? The way out is that pay and career progression should be de-linked from military rank progression as far as comparison with the civil services is concerned. Military rank may continue to act as an internal functional / command and control mechanism but without any relevance to comparison with the civil services. For example, Capt with two years of service as Capt (total 4 years commissioned service) can be elevated to STS (GP 6600) just as in the civil services. A Major with three years of service as Major (total 9 years commissioned service) can be elevated to JAG (GP 7600) as is the case with civilian counterparts, Lt Col with one year of service as Lt Col (total 14 years of commissioned service) is upgraded to GP 8900 and Lt Col / Col with total 18 years of service is promoted to SAG (GP 10000). Colonels, Brigs and Maj Gens can stay in GP 10000 while for executive purposes, only a Maj Gen can be granted the functional signatory powers of a Joint Secretary to Govt of India to maintain status quo that is the root cause of the lack of a meeting point.

Promotions to higher levels, i.e, HAG+ (Lt Gen) and Apex Grade (Lt Gen - Army Commanders' / VCOAS grade) can continue as hitherto before. This would be in line with the time based promotions in the civil services and also as implemented for all Govt Doctors under the Central Govt under the Dynamic Assured Career Progression Scheme (DACP).

Please also peruse this tabular representation of the above proposal for a better picture.

Side by side, we also need to highlight the fact again that the time being spent in training in military establishments is not counted towards service as in the case of others. We need to again impress on the establishment to count our training period (after award of a degree of graduation) as service for all intents and purposes.

Before naysayers reduce the above to dust, I would like to point out that such time based progression is not new to the forces. In the Navy, Captains with 3 years of service are upgraded to a higher Grade Pay. If it has worked for the Navy since times immemorial, it can damn well work for the sister services. The military ranks have always acted as an internal functional requirement and shall remain so. The above proposal would also eliminate voices seeking 'removal' of one rank from the military hierarchy since this would result in progression almost at par with the civil services without tinkering our time tested rank structure.

More than anything else, we need to change our mind-set and find ways to reach a mutually acceptable consensus on this very important issue.

Posted by Navdeep / Maj Navdeep